About Us

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If estate planning was once considered something that only high-net-worth individuals needed, that has changed. Nowadays, many middle-class families need to plan for when something happens to a family’s breadwinner(s). After all, you don’t have to be super-rich to do well in the stock market or real estate, both of which produce assets that you’ll want to pass on to your heirs.

What constitutes your estate? It's the total value of your personal property, financial accounts, real estate, businesses owned, and life insurance proceeds.  Most states probate threshold  starts at $50k - $75k, which isn't hard to hit for most Americans.

Without an estate plan, the courts will often decide who gets your assets—a process that can take years, rack up fees, and get ugly (it's called probate). After all, a court doesn’t know which sibling has been responsible and which one shouldn’t have free access to cash. Nor will the courts automatically rule that the surviving loved one gets everything.

Nobody thinks of dying young, but if you’re the parent of small children, you need to prepare for the unthinkable. This is where the will portion of an estate plan comes in.

To ensure that your children are cared for in a manner of which you approve, you’ll want to name their guardians in the event that both parents die before the kids turn 18. Without a will that names these guardians, the courts will step in to decide who will raise your children.

It doesn't matter who promised to care for your child, if it's not in a legal document called a Will, then the state will decide for you.  If parents pass away without a Will and don’t make guardianship arrangements for their minor children, the court will be forced to appoint a surrogate. 

Estate planning is all about protecting your loved ones, which means in part giving them protection from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Essential to estate planning is transferring assets to heirs with an eye toward creating the smallest possible tax burden for them.

Even just a bit of estate planning can enable couples to reduce much or even all of their federal and state estate taxes and state inheritance taxes. There are also ways to decrease the income tax that beneficiaries might have to pay. Without a plan, the amount that your heirs will owe Uncle Sam could be quite a lot.

The law favors using a Living Trust, since it not only avoids Probate, but also eliminates the Gift Tax (sometimes called an Inheritance Tax). At death, all trust assets "Step-up in Basis", to equal the current market value of the asset. Therefore, at death the heirs are not forced to deal with financial losses while they have to deal with the emotional loss of a cherished family member.

We’ve all heard the horror stories. Someone with money dies, and the war between family members begins. One sibling may think they deserve more than another, or one sibling may think they should be in charge of the finances even though they’re notorious for racking up debt. Such squabbling can get ugly and end up in court, with family members pitted against one another.

Stopping fights before they start is yet another reason why an estate plan is necessary. This will enable you to choose who controls your finances and assets if you become mentally incapacitated or after you die and will go a long way toward quelling any family strife and ensuring that your assets are handled in the way that you intended.

And, of course, if you’ve had more than one spouse—or have children from more than one family—then an estate plan is urgently needed.